The Phoenix commanded her eyes to open, but they didn't obey. The smell of burning was strong in her nostrils; rubber, wood, chemicals, hair. Her hair. Animal hair. And meat. She shoved the last smell out of her mind, she didn't want to think about what that was. She was rocking rhythmically, and with how tired she was, it was lulling her to sleep, but she knew that she had to stay away, or the burning would consume them and she would become part of the awful smell.

Forcing her eyes open, she saw she was being carried by Splinter, his strong, slender arms held her close to his rounded chest. "Yoshi," she said quietly, a feeling of relief washing over her as she remembered the last few moments of consciousness before she blacked out. "It worked."

At the sound of her voice, tension he hadn't been aware he'd been holding flooded out of his muscles. Knowing that she would survive was different than knowing whether or not she would hover for days or weeks on the brink of that survival and he'd dreaded that possibility more than he'd realized.

Clasping her tightly against him, he slipped down to street level and vanished into the darkness of a nearby alley. Only in the safety of darkness did he let up his hold enough to look down at her and gently brush a charred strand if hair from her forehead.

Relief gave way to anger. Years of experience and wisdom and he couldn't choke the words off before they escaped him. "What were you doing there? Alone? You could have been killed." Even as he said them, he knew he'd regret scolding her like a student or a child.

She blinked slowly, her eyes were so dry, it felt like they were filled with sand. She was too tired to be angry or irritated. She was too tired to be much of anything other than tired. "I knew that was where I had to go," she replied. She reached one of her arms up to put it around his neck, keeping her eyes closed for longer than she needed to to feel his fur. It was crispier than it usually was, not the soft texture she was accustomed to snuggling up to. But the hair would shed soon enough and be replaced.

She was just glad that what she had tried had worked. But just because completing the circuit worked, didn't mean everything was ok. Splinter had carried people off who were in a worse state than he had been while carrying them. "Are you alright?" she asked, with her eyes still closed. She forced them open again. "Are you still hurt?" It took so much effort to talk, her tongue didn't want to do what her mind told it to do.

A classic answer of hers that evaded argument. Part of what made her so frustrating and and remarkable.

He huffed out a breathe, exhaustion catching up to push aside the anger. Everything held back in the flight to safety came rushing back. His bones ached,nerves burned and muscles screamed protest with each movement. But he was alive and able. That was enough. "No more than you."

He hesitated, uncharacteristically uncertain. "Why did you go alone?" iWhy didn't you ask me to go with you?/i

Her face, which showed only the exhaustion that he felt, blinked into one of shame, tears coming to her eyes. She kept them closed for a moment, but then opened them. Bright green, much like Raphael's, she was quiet for a long time. "He knew everything about us," she said quietly. "And he was hurting so many people." Her cheeks began to grow red and the tears fell from her eyes. "So in exchange for keeping us safe and to keep from hurting others," her voice cracked, "I was helping him by letting him experiment on me." She waited with her heart in her throat for him to drop her in disgust and leave her there on the street, where she belonged.

Splinter's ears flattened against his head as he sucked in a sharp, surprised breath. It wasn't just today. She'd been facing off with Battle for weeks if not months. Sacrificing herself. And he, where had he been? How could he have been so utterly unaware? When had she stopped considering him her ally?

How far apart had they drifted? His mind scanned back. The hours spent in the dojo, not even teaching anymore. Seeking the next level of mental and spiritual mastery at the cost everything else. The world, his family...her moving on with their lives without him.

With shame he reflected on the missed and ignored calls that he'd had no time for on that frustrating little communication device Donatello had constructed. She hadn't sought his help because he hadn't been there. Was it too late to set this right?

Closing his eyes, he bowed his head until their foreheads touched. "I have failed you. Forgive me."

Letting out a sob, she pressed her own forehead to his. Her eyes, despite the tears streaming from them, were still gritty and sore, the smell of burning strong in her nostrils. "You didn't do anything wrong," she whispered in stuccado. It was the only way she could get it out.

His amber eyes, which she always melted her heart, so much so that even his birth daughter was unaware of what power her own look had over her stepmother, brought another wave of guilt through her. She cupped his cheek. She could feel the burned tips of his whiskers and fur on her fingers and palm. "I'm the one who was keeping things from everyone."

Another sob escaped her, and as it did, all of her energy seemed to seep at out of her body with it. "If you want to go home without me," she said, "I understand. I wouldn't blame you." She more than deserved it. She had left him to his own devices, rather than including him in her life, in the life of his son, to which the two of them had worked so hard to create, all because of what? She couldn't even remember.

His arms tightened around her. "I do not wish to go on without you. We have had far too much of that, I believe." He paused, collecting his thoughts before continuing, eyes earnest and voice now thick with emotion. "Perhaps we can try again? Together. My life in yours and your life in mine. Facing what comes as one." As it should have always been from danger to daily life. They could do better with one more chance.

Her face crumpled inward, her brows forming a V at the bridge of her nose, her lips pinching causing her chin to quiver. Then, with a quick intake of breath, she squeezed his neck with her arms, burying her face in shoulder. "Of course," she managed to get out. How could he think her answer would be anything but that? "My life in yours and your life in mine," she repeated as a sob. "Oh, Yoshi, I'm sorry!"

His hand cupped her cheek, slender thumb smudging away her tears. and he smiled down from her feeling a great weight lifted from his soul. "Let's go home."

TSOTCTSOTC

The lair was eerily quiet as Leo did a final check through. Between the panic of the family emergency, the intensity of battle and the busyness of assisting Donnie while he worked, Leo had been running on pure adrenaline. Coming down now left him bone-tired, but he couldn't rest. Not yet.

In the kitchen, dirty dishes, still unwashed, filled the sink. Karai sat on the floor, back against the cabinets with three sleeping babies in her arms as she dozed. Anton cuddled up asleep on one side of her, Alli on the other and Yuuta had curled up on her lap.

Beyond, he could see into the living room. Aries slept spread out in the recliner with Ana, wearing a stripy old bathrobe, snuggled into his side. Raph snored upright at the end of the couch with Zoe's head pillowed on his lap while she lay lengthwise. On some futon mattresses that they'd found in Sensei's old rooms and unfolded on the floor, sprawled Denim and Mikey, hands clasped and heads touching in their slumber.

Leo slipped silently upstairs to look in on the rooms there. Rockwell slept fitfully, alone in his room. Mondo didn't stir and Leatherhead gave Leo a glance before resuming his vigil. Pete snored loudly, splayed out across the bed while Slash sat sleeping nearby, shell against the wall. Arcos kept watch over Sappho's still body, barely even bothering to acknowledge Leo. April shifted uneasily in her sleep with Donnie slouched in a chair next to her bed, holding her hand, even after nodding off. And Medusa had coiled up in the corner to rest.

Everything was stable, but nothing was right.

He ghosted back down the stairs and out onto the subway tracks, sagging against the concrete wall and slowly sliding to the ground, holding his head in trembling hands. They depended on him to keep it together, to know what to do, so breaking down needed to be done in private.

Too close. Tonight was way too close to disaster.

Senses picked up something down the tunnel in the distance, causing him to mentally shelve his distress and jump to his feet, kunai seeming to materialize in hand.

Then Phoenix and Sensei, leaning heavily on each other, limped towards him out of the gloom.

Flooded with relief, anger, hope and frustration, he dropped the kunai and sprinted forward, embracing them.

"You're home."